Ljungberg, Baptista, Song and Adebayor battle it out for starting berth

Gilberto is out of the Newcastle game for family reasons as we all know.

That means we have 4 players competing for his place.

That means Arsene has a bit of a dilemma. A nice one to have indeed but still..

Who does he play in midfield? Does he switch back to a 4-4-2? Will he play Van Persie and Adebayor in the same team?

I think not. He opted for Flamini over Adebayor last time out and I think the 4-5-1 will prevail again.

I suspect he will stick with a 4-5-1 and put Ljungberg in the centre with Fabregas and Flamini. Van Persie and Hleb taking the other wing positions.

If Ljungberg is not fit enough (unlikely as he was ready to start against the Ivory Coast) Wenger might start with Song who has, despite criticism for some of his displays last season, really improved and is currently bossing games for the reserves.

The only reservations I have against playing Song is that we would have 2 defensively minded midfielders in the centre of the park (Flamini being the other), whereas Freddie offers a little more going forward but less physical presence.

However that shouldn't be an issue with the first choice back four back together and I cannot really see Newcastle taking the game to us. As Bill Gallas said yesterday we need to concentrate on scoring first.

If we do that, and do it early then this could well turn in to a rout.

The other option is Baptista who could play centrally in a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1, however having only just returned from injury I expect it's more likely he will come off the bench. Having Baptista and Walcott (power and pace personified) to come off the bench could well be what tips the game over the edge of we are leading.

Arsenal (from): Lehmann, Hoyte, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Fabregas, Hleb, Henry, van Persie, Baptista, Ljungberg, Almunia, Djourou, Senderos, Eboue, Flamini, Walcott, Aliadiere, Adebayor.

Prediction: Arsenal 2 - 0 Newcastle (Come on I can't be any fucking worse than Lawro)

Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks.
They charged one and let the other one off.